Syria and Hezbollah
This week Saad al-Hariri, the Lebanese PM, retracted his former claim that Syria was behind the assassination of his father, Rafik al-Hariri, the Prime Minister of Lebanon in 2005. The assassination in 2005 led to massive protests in Lebanon and the eventual withdrawal of Syrians troops after almost 30 years in Lebanon.
Many people would ask why Syrian troops were present in Lebanon anyway? This goes back to the Lebanese civil war of the 70's and early 80's when the Christian monitories were overwhelmed by the burgeoning Muslim community and felt an erosion of their political and economic power.
Syria made its presence felt and had remained in Lebanon ever since. Despite the enormous protests for the withdrawal of Syria in 2005 with the inevitable backing of America, there were an equal number of Lebanese who wanted Syria to stay, recognizing its presence as a stabling force within Lebanon.
Syria pleaded its innocence throughout but its voice was quelled. There was no hard evidence to prove Syria's involvement in the assassination even though there was an initial UN report in 2005 which implicated Syrian security forces in the attack (which was subsequently quashed). The accusation of the UN together with American and international pressure forced Bashar al Assad, the Syrian president, to peacefully withdraw troops from Lebanon.
Now 5 years later the present Lebanese PM and the son of the slain former PM, has retracted his former accusation against Syria and said it had nothing to do with the assassination. He further went on to say that the accusation was purely politically motivated.
There is certainly no hard evidence to support Saad's previous claim. Now with the new Obama administration, which has a less isolationist policy toward Syria, together with tacit approval of Syria's escalating importance, it has emerged as a much stronger regional player. Recognizing this, Hariri has made no less than 4 official visits to Syria since he took office.
Syria has always covertly backed Hezbollah. We cannot forget that it was Hezbollah that saved the day in 2006 when Israeli troops made their illegal incursions into southern Lebanon. The then fragile official Western backed government, led by Emile Lahoud's ineffective government troops, were powerless to defend its citizens and state against the Israeli onslaught.
The people of Lebanon, be they Christian, Muslim or Druze, common folk or ministers cannot forget what Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah did for them. In the aftermath of the fight, in which Israel won no decisive victory or land grab, his organization was responsible for the reconstructing of people homes, and lives giving out food, money and organizing jobs at the cost of millions of dollars.
Nasrallah, has this week stated that, as the PM has retracted his former accusation, it is inevitable that Hezbollah will now be blamed for the assassination. Let's see what the special tribunal which has finally been set up in the Hague (March 2009) to investigate the matter comes up. To date it has not been able to implicate Syria in the killing.
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